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Saturday, June 30-2007
Dock on the Yough:
Portvue, Pa.
The evening sun was shining. The river was calm. The
joint was jumpin wit barbecue, beer, n’ Pittsburgh rock
n’ roll. The two hour first set took a few twists and
turns. “If I Had a Child” was smoking. Love you long
time. “Burn’in Up” caught fire. Love you long time. A
tune we rarely play “Bare Footin”, the old Bobby Parker
tune, was a gas. That’s beatnik talk. Cool, huh? Boat
people rock. Know what I mean man? “Boilermaker” opened
set two, and folks was starting to dance n’ get goofy.
“Nothin To Lose” came up strong. I made the solo at the
end long and manful. Love you long time. Set three
opened with “You Really Got A Hold On Me”. An ole friend
then joined us onstage, Kenny Blake. We did a minor key
laid back blues thing to warm up Kenny, but Kenny didn’t
need warmed up. Kenny came gig ready. We blasted into
Junior Walker’s “Shotgun”. Kenny put down the alto and
picked up the tenor sax. Things got funky. We did a
blues shuffle and three different harp players got up
and did their own take on the same tune. The show closed
down after four hours of playing on our part, with Kenny
Blake blowin his way thru “I Shall Be Released”. Love
you long time.
Friday, June 29-2007
Excuses:
Pittsburgh, Pa.,
Not a giant crowd, but most
everyone stayed all night. What a blast we had. It had
been a while since we played “White Trash Tragedy”. Let
me say, it hit a homerun on this occasion. Phil Brontz,
tenor sax man of 8th Street Rox was in da house and did
a remarkable four song set before a very appreciative
audience. ‘T- Bird”, “Sidewalk Romeo”, “Weekend” and
“Burn’n Up” all took me places I needed to go. Nice
playing with Phil. “People Takin Care” got me going. We
sent out “Till the Cows Come Home” to the guy that
inspired it, Paul Shook. “Little Things” lit it up in
set three. “Ain’t It Amazin” quieted the joint down.
“Son Of A Gun” brought the rock. A young girl name a’
Kate took her second crack at singing “Be My Baby’, this
time I put her in a better key to sing the d*m song.
Kate nailed it. This was a wonderful and magic evening.
I am blessed.
Saturday, June 23-2007
Billy’s Roadhouse:
Wexford, Pa.
I had a lot of sadness in my soul not long before I had
to leave for the gig. I got a call from brother Ron that
informed me of the passing of my ex band mate and ole
friend Paul Shook. I’m Paul Shook up. The party now
atmosphere at Billy’s on this night was so powerful it
lifted my spirits. “Lazybones”, “Good Rockin Man”, I
thought about Shook and started playing “Amazing Grace”,
my mind drifted back to 1980, Fat City, Swissvale and a
young kid from Millvale with a whole lotta heart. Folks
was dancing and boozing and yelling out requests like
“Ready Freddy” & “Heat Of The Night” & “Burnin Up” so we
played em’ all and more, like “T- Bird” & “That Girl”,
all the old Tiger tunes. We did a strong take on
“Weekend” that got a nice response. A couple of Elvis
tunes for Dodo spiced up the mix, a “Happy Birthday” for
Shelly. “Ain’t It Amazin” is starting to stand out.
Glitter was partying like a rock star. Dat’s how we
roll. There’s a ton o’ folks that’s gonna miss Paul
Shook.
God took a piece a’ me
When God took Paul.
Friday, June 22-2007
B&O Station:
Youngstown, Ohio
We played indoors after the Donnie Iris and the Cruisers
outdoor show. Vinny Q was playing with us on this good
rocking evening. “Boilermaker”, “Ready Freddy”, “Rock n’
Roll City”, we was rollin. V.Q. was kicking on ”Heat Of
The Night”. A steaming version of “Weekend” warmed the
stage up. “Amazing Grace” and “You Go Your Way” both
felt strong. A smoking “End Of The Line” let everybody
know we wasn’t messin. We then brought up Donnie’s
drummer and my dear friend Brice Foster to play drums on
the Chuck Berry classic “Round n’ Round”. Whitey got out
front to sing “Shama Lama Ding Dong” which got over very
well with the crowd. I got off big time playing slide on
“Shake Your Moneymaker”. I called Donnie’s bass player
Paul up onstage to play “Work Together”, “Not Fade Away”
and “Bow Legged Woman”. Both Paul and Brice sounded
great. As always, it felt good to get Whitey and Harry
back on stage to finish out the set with “That Girl”,
“Rich Kid” and “Graceland”.
Saturday, June 16-2007
The Shining Stone:
Uniontown, Pa.
The first set we played three piece and geared the music
for the older folks in da house. “Git By” got it all
goin. We threw a few cool cover tunes down just for fun:
“Ring Of Fire” and “Help Me Make It Thru The Night”. The
joint was starting to fill up for set two; we brought up
semi regular band member Vinny Q for some good rockin.
“Who Dat Do Dat” moved me major. Set three started with
“Round n’ Round” followed by a serious take on “Nothin
To Lose”. We did a make shift version of “Till the Cows
Come Home” which rocked the house. A spiritual “I Shall
Be Released” washed away all our sins and sent everybody
home, fresh as a daisy.
Friday, June 15-2007
The Starlite:
Blawnox, Pa.
The U.S. Open was being
played right across the river at Oakmont Country Club, I
was hoping Tiger Woods would show for a dose of
Pittsburgh rock n’ roll, but it wasn’t meant to be.
“Lazybones”, “Boilermaker”, and we were pressin on. Dear
friend Chuck Koeler walked onstage and started talking
about me having a birthday this week as Moondog brought
a candle lit cake out. I must admit I got a little tear
in my eye. Chuck and Whitey sang happy birthday. Cool.
“Son Of A Gun”, “Hell’s Highway” and “Rainbow” all stood
out on this evening. Happy birthday to me……………
Saturday, June 9-2007
Carhops:
Dormont, Pa.
I bet it has been a year since we’ve played this
hi-level sandwich, pizza & music bar. The music sounded
manful, just as soon as we started hackin. We kicked a
strong “Rock n’ Roll City” in the tail early on. We did
a lotta laughing in between songs. The setup of the club
has this showy feel to it. “Pass the dust, I think I’m
in Vegas”. It’s an easy stage to work on cause there are
people sitting all around. We talked about “Da whole
Hammer n’ nat”, “Don’t make me love you”……. During the
second set we had a young girl Kate, come onstage with
us and sing “Be My Baby”, she did a nice job. I think we
could have helped her out by finding a better key for
her to sing it in. “Mr. Right Now” came down real easy.
Harry sang a swinging “Pot’s n Pans”. My new best friend
the red telecaster, was singing high n’ lonesome. We
called Crash McCrackin a young handsome drummer about
town up on stage to help us backup Whitey Cooper’s
twenty minute vocal onslaught.
Friday, June 8-2007
P.D.’s Pub:
Pittsburgh, Pa.
“Lazybones”, “Boilermaker”,
“Somethin’s Cookin”…a fiery version of “Loverboy” got
the dork in me all riled up & we was off n’ running.
“Two Story House” played real smooth tonight. It all
seemed to make more sense you know, the words rang out
over the music just da way daddy likes it. We closed out
set one with “Smoke Two Joints”. I could see folks at
the bar starting to feel the power and the glory of this
manful sound. “That Ain’t Gonna Happen” & “I Seen Too
Much” both rang out proud n’ true in the second set.
“Poor Little Rich Kid” opened set three and bull dozed
off the stage as it rumbled my very bones. “Shake Your
Money Maker” has been a lot of fun to play lately. Hope
to be back at P.D.’s this fall. “Not Fade Away”…………………
Saturday, June 2-2007
Burgi’s Round House:
Altoona, Pa.
The two and a half hour ride always seems to be worth it
when we play this bar. Local musician Ryan introduced us
and we were off and running. “Lazybones”, “Rock n’ Roll
City”, “Good Rockin Man” all felt just right and folks
were enjoying themselves. Cool. We did “Heart Break
Shake” as a special request for boss man Chuck. Ryan got
back onstage to play guitar while I sang “Shake Rattle
and Roll”. The dance floor filled up, the joint was
rockin. “Amazin Grace” got a lot of applause. Harry sang
“Pot’s n’ Pans” and also got a ton of shoutin goin on.
Set one closed with an outstanding version of “Smoke Two
Joints”. Ole friend and DJ for local radio station Q-94
Jim Price introduced our second set with a bunch of
gusto, then we proceeded to sing a rocking “Happy
Birthday” to three gals as they danced center stage.
Cool. One of my ex band mates was in the house, bass
player Gerry Stanek. We got him on stage and he sang
“Truck Drivin Man” and “Can’t Help Falling In Love”. He
then stuck around to play bass on a couple Norman tunes
we used to play together “Over Said And Done” and “Up
Jumps The Devil”. We played a short third set that
featured Whitey singing “Shama Lama Ding Dong”. The good
rockin feelin in our souls carried us thru that two and
a half hour ride home.
Friday, June 1-2007
Moondogs:
Blawnox, Pa.
Chuck and Sandy opened the
show doing a couple acoustic type tunes, except Chuck
played electric guitar, it came off pretty well. Whitey,
Harry and I had Vinny Q with us tonight and everybody
made the most of it. “Nightclub”, “Reddy Freddy”,
“Shackin Up”, “Amazin Grace”, “You Go Your Way”,
“Weekend”, we was all fired up. Vinny sang “You Better
Move On” I was on a major bullsh*t roll so a whole lotta
laughs was all over the joint. “Heat Of The Night”,
“Burnin Up”, “Shake Your Moneymaker”. Set two came
rumbing in wit “Boiler Maker” and “I Seen Too Much” we
got Moondog himself to sing “I Shall Be Released” and
“Dead Flowers”. My ole band mate George was in the house
so we got him onstage to play drums while Whitey Cooper
soul shouted four or five classics. I personally was
moved by Whitey’s take on “Great Balls Of Fire”, but
that’s just me. |
